Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

Posted: 03/28/08

Final Fantasy VII has earned its place in history, with its epic cutscenes, sci-fi story and lovable characters with great haircuts. And Square knows it too, making the seventh fantasy not all that final. There’s been the mixed blessing of Advent Children and the lamentably lame Dirge of Cerberus, but now it’s time for another shot in the arm with Crisis Core. Is it leaching off the source material’s life-stream or is it the real deal?

Prequels are funny things, casting sly winks onto the future, and Crisis Core is no exception. Taking place years before the events in Final Fantasy VII, you'll get to spend a lot of quality time with fan favorites like Cloud, Sephiroth, and the beautiful Aerith as Zach Fair, SOLDIER second class in the Shinra Electric Power Company. Expect even more cameos from a young Yuffie, as well as meeting some new pals like SOLDIER first class Angeal and Genesis. The latter quickly goes rogue and causes all sorts of problems for Shinra that you’ll have to help clean up. This is assuredly a fan game, with some of the basics of the world being glossed over, like materia, mako energy, and political ties, but they can be picked up in context over time.

Scenario plotting and pace are up to snuff, and even the near story-free missions get some text for added flavor. There's the occasional groan-worthy spoken dialog, which one can hope sounded better in its original language. Final fanatics will get maudlin over this love letter, and new comers will get attached as well.

You’ll find giant swords, summons, and Sephiroth, but this isn't Final Fantasy VII. The game lays out a chapter system, with no overworld map, just a hub of sorts at Shinra HQ. In Zach's quest to make SOLDIER first class, he'll take on assignments that reveal more and more of the cynical--can we say, crisis--that's erupting all around him and his friends. These missions will take you all over, exploring little areas, fighting monsters, triggering cutscenes, while talking to NPCs, opening a chest or partaking in the occasional minigame before confronting a boss.

At any save point you can also jump into the optional missions, and there’s a ton. Some are unlocked through plot advancement, talking to certain people, or beating other missions. They’re bite-sized little adventures, great for portable play, and they offer ways to check how Zack is stacked and pick up some rewards while you’re at it. Just don’t expect cutscenes or any real exploration.

Progression is veiled behind the Digital Mind Wave or DMW, a slot machine that keeps spinning during combat based on whom you’ve met in the game so far. Get a triple seven and you gain a level, but it’s not as random as it seems, with some sort of hidden experience stat letting the slots know when to jackpot. Beyond that, Zack is limited to equipping accessories and materia that can boost stats, or add attacks and magic abilities. Later on, when you have a grip of materia you can explore fusing it for stronger, deadlier combinations. Despite seeming limited at first, the wealth of materia and fusions available let you tweak all his abilities aside from his sword, which never changes.

Once you settle in on Zach’s episodic flow, Crisis Core starts to deliver. Each chapter has its moments, and there are enough surprises to keep things fresh. And if you don’t feel like sinking a couple hours into the next installment, you can still quest on with the bite-sized missions, and earn some new items as well.

Even with the main game’s linear progression, there’s still a fair amount of optional content without even dipping into the missions, though some of that content unlocks missions. Skip through the minigames if you want, don’t talk to everyone on the streets, it’s fine, you can still keep up with the story. You’ll get a solid amount of play time from Crisis Core—even if you opt to avoid a lot of the extras.

When you’re tracking on the main quest don’t expect to get lost in any dungeons, with maps being almost always available, and if they’re not, the area is usually pretty small and easy to figure out.

Save points are placed generously, so if you go into a fight with the wrong equipment, restoring isn’t a big deal. Combat is real time, with slashing, dodging and blocking, topped off with your equipped materia moves and magic. The DMW will also trigger positive status changes, and when you align three of the same characters you can unleash special moves, summons, and more. While it can be very random, if Zach’s in-game emotions are heightened you’ll get luckier with the spins. There’s almost always lots of stuff going on in combat, and with a mess of materia and the randomness of DMW, it never gets dull.

The optional missions can feel a little redundant at the start, but with great rewards--and the lure of constantly unlocking new content--they end up becoming addictive. The environments and monsters keep changing, and can be quite challenging at points, plus once in awhile there’s a little extra surprise packed in.

Crisis Core does a good job of playing chameleon. You can run through the game for the plot like an action game, or delve into the hundreds of side missions. You choose how you want to play it, even if it never commits too much to any mechanic.

Crisis Core is another title raising the stakes of what the PSP is capable of. The letterbox CG for cutscenes and summons are beautiful and artifact free, combat is chaotic--filled with effects, fluidity and the constant churning of the slot machine. The locations feel sparse and flat, especially in the bee-line missions, but at least the story segments are consistent--showing a fairly desolate city, with little hustle, bustle, or clutter. Composer Takeharu Ishimoto does a fine job with new songs and classic fanfares, and the voice acting is always solid, even if the lines aren't.

Like Dirge of Cerberus, Crisis Core doesn’t take the easy way out and photocopy the source. Unlike Dirge, it’s actually an appealing game. The gameplay is a bit of a hybrid, but its open enough for exploration without getting lost. It’s obviously a game for fans, and it succeeds, but it’s also a good game for a portable platform that anyone can get into.

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